Carnival: protect your cell phone before going to the revelry – 02/15/2023 – Tech

Having a lot of personal information on a single cell phone can result in headaches if the device is lost or stolen. Photos, bank accounts, notes, contacts and social networks must be protected, especially during Carnival, which returns after two years without a party.

In São Paulo, authorities estimate that the public should reach 15 million revelers. With so many people crowded together, cases of theft have been common in blocks.

Here are some tips to avoid problems with your cell phone during the revelry:

Register a password

The first step, and the most important one, is to set a cell phone access password. Without this layer of security, losing your device means giving access to your personal information to a stranger.

As soon as you turn on a new cell phone for the first time, the system already recommends protection. In haste or carelessness, the user may ignore the instruction.

It is also important that numerical passwords are strong. So, no “1234” or “0000” when choosing the PIN.

In addition to the code, several cell phone models offer fingerprint unlocking (biometrics), which ensures yet another security enhancement. In the case of the latest iPhones, FaceID, which requires facial recognition of the owner of the cell phone, is a great option.

See how to activate mobile access passwords

Android:

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to Security and Privacy
3. Select lock screen
4. Select PIN. Some devices also offer face recognition and biometrics on the same screen (recommended)
5. Enter the six-digit PIN or configure the other security methods

iOS:

1. Go to Settings
2. Access Face ID & Passcode (Touch ID & Passcode on models prior to iPhone X)
3. Select Activate Code
4. Enter a code. Can be four or six digits, alphanumeric or custom

Track and wipe data remotely

Cell phone location services help you find your device if you lose it, so be sure to enable the necessary settings before leaving home.

The function allows, through another device, the user to see on a map where the device is. The latest iPhones and Samsung Galaxy, for example, can still be tracked even when they are turned off.

It is also important to keep a record of the phone’s identification number, the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), in case you need to register an incident report.

The IMEI is on the labels pasted on the box of the device and can also be accessed by typing the code *#06#* on the cell phone. Leave the IMEI saved on another device, such as a computer. With the number, the operator can prevent the lost cell phone from making and receiving calls.

Google (“Find My Device”), Apple (“Search”) and Samsung (“SmartThings Find”) have their own tracking tools. They also allow you to remotely block or delete the device’s files the next time it connects to the internet.

Here’s how to track cell phones:

Samsung:

1. Go to Settings
2. Go to Security and Privacy
3. Select Find My Phone
4. Sign in to your Samsung Account
5. Turn on “Allow locate phone”
6. To check, visit smartthingsfind.samsung.com

Google:

1. On an Android device, go to Settings
2. Go to Google
3. Select Find My Device
4. Turn on “Use Find My Device”
5. Sign in to your Google account
6. To check, go to google.com/android/find

iPhone:

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap your name and go to Search
3. Select Find My iPhone option
4. To see the device even when offline, turn on “Find My App Network”
5. The location can be viewed in the Find My app on other Apple devices (Mac or iPad) or at icloud.com/find

Archives and backups

Apple and Google accounts entitle you to free storage. This allows, for example, saving files in the cloud and accessing them from any device.

With the active backup function, cell phones can save photos, events, contacts and notes automatically every time they are connected to a WiFi network. The function is useful in case of theft, avoiding a bigger job when transferring files to a new cell phone.

Despite breaking the branch, free storage is not generous with those who have a lot of files, especially videos. The Apple account (iCloud) guarantees only 5 GB of memory, while the Google account, 15 GB. In these cases, you can either pay for a premium subscription or save the files to your computer the old-fashioned way.

WhatsApp also has the option to make backups within the application, through iCloud and Google Drive, which allows you to recover conversations on other devices.

Here’s how to enable backups on mobile phones:

Android:

1. Go to Settings
2. Access Accounts and Backup
3. Select “Back up data” where it says Google Drive
4. Sign in to Google account and select which data you want to sync to the cloud

iPhone:

1. Go to Settings
2. Select your name and go to iCloud
3. Go to “iCloud Backup” and select “Back Up This iPhone”
4. In the iCloud tab, it will now appear which apps can be synced with the cloud, such as Photos, Mail, Notes and Contacts. To deactivate, just select one of them

Whatsapp:

1. Open the WhatsApp app
2. Tap More Options and go to Settings
3. Go to Chats, then Chat Backup
4. Enable the “Backup to Google Drive” option. On iPhone, sync is turned on by default
5. Select a backup frequency
6. Select the Google Account you want to save the backup to